APRIL was a busy month again for SMTC Greenock, with three members involved in explosive bouts.

Davy McIntye Junior took a last-minute fight on Road to Glory 5 in Motherwell and Ross Cochrane and Raymond ‘Mondo’ Woodcock were part of the main event on the Anarchy Show in Livingston.

Young Davy McIntyre Junior was looking forward to fighting his first adult class on his home show in Greenock, however, the club were unable to get him matched.

Luckily there was a place for him on the Road to Glory and the young man was up for the contest and excited to experience his first adult fight.

Davy took on his opponent in a C class bout which saw them fight over 5x1.5-minute rounds.

As both fighters came out it was clear to see that not only did Davy’s opponent have the weight advantage but also the height as well, standing at least four to five inches taller than the Greenock fighter.

Unfazed, Davy was hit with a teep to the torso, pushing him to the canvas.

Davy jumped straight back up and went on to the attack, cutting across his opponent and delivering some hard low kicks to his thighs.

For the duration of the round both would trade off, with the SMTC Greenock battler’s rival using his reach to his advantage, while Davy tried to capitalise on his speed. In the last 30 seconds of the round he landed a teep on to Davy’s torso, catapulting him on to the ropes. He quickly followed it up with a long knee to Davy’s chest, sending him to canvas. Unable to catch his breath, the young man was unable to continue and his opponent was awarded the win.

Davy gained his first experience of an adult bout and enjoyed it even though it incurred a loss and he looks forward to a more even match in June where he fights on the Clydebank Blitz.

The following weekend saw Ross and Raymond take on to date two of their hardest opponents in their professional fighting careers on the Anarchy Show in Livingston.

Ross was fighting for a WBC British title against current champion Reece Thompson from the Sitsidong Gym in London, who may be only 18 but has been making waves in the UK Muay Thai Scene.

Raymond was taking on probably one of the UK’s most well-known Thai boxers to date. Paulo Da Silva from the Lupini Crawley Gym has been the UK number one at 53.5kg for almost 10 years (recently losing that to Daniel McGowan last year) and is a former two-time world champion.

Ross was up first and this was a full Muay Thai rules A class bout but was under WBC rules (all techniques score the same and every round is scored from the start). Use of spiking elbows wasn’t allowed.

This fight was at 55kgs and both boys made the weight easily on the Friday evening.

Ross was aware he had to take the fight to Reece hard from the start and not let the younger man gain the advantage from his very technical style.

From the start Ross attacked the young man with sheer aggression, hammering Reece with his boxing and firing in hard low kicks to his thighs which seemed to be paying off, slowing Reece down.

This was the case for the first two rounds with some small exchanges in the clinch. It looked like Ross had taken the first two rounds comfortably. Round three saw Reece come into his own as he started to use his reach to his advantage, landing a strong front knee to Ross and took some of the wind from Ross’s sails.

Reece then started to up it in the fourth and fifth round even though Ross was trying to keep up his assault from the earlier rounds.

Reece came back into the contest the last two rounds, scoring well and keeping Ross on the back foot.

Both fighters gave it their all and it went to the judges’ score cards.

Reece in this instance won by unanimous decision and retained his title, although the crowd thought that Ross had just edged it.

Finally, Raymond was up for the last fight of the evening and the main event of the show.

This was a full A class fight and was a 56kg max bout.

Both fighters made the weight easily the night before and weighed in at 55.3kg exactly.

Raymond knew this was to be an extremely hard fight, with Paulo being known for having incredibly heavy hands and devastating low kicks.

Going in to the first round it could be seen that Raymond opted for a south paw stance over his normal orthodox stance.

Raymond controlled the contest from the start, with Paulo at times looking unsure of what to do.

The Greenock man made use of his jab to set up his kicks to score well and when in the clinch kept extremely busy, scoring with knees and elbows.

Everyone had expected to see Paulo attack more but in this case it could not be seen.

The third round saw Raymond deliver a thunderous inside low kick to the shin of Paulo, sending him to the canvas and taking a eight count.

Seeing the opportunity, the SMTC Greenock fighter attacked Paulo with vicious low kicks which saw Paulo drop to the canvas a further two times.

Unable to continue, Raymond was declared the winner and took a massive win under his belt.

Another busy fortnight of fights is coming up for SMTC Greenock. The next set of fights for SMTC Greenock is in June. Davy McIntyre will fight Conner Campbell on the undercard of the Clydebank Blitz on 27 June and the following weekend on 20 June sees Raymond taking on UK number two seed Mathew Tieu and Ross Cochrane facing John Haggerty on a massive show in London on the Muay Thai Grand Prix, which will have some top names fighting some of the UK’s best.

If anyone is interested in Muay Thai, there are classes for kids and adults on at the Team Viper Gym, which is situated behind Word Up and you enter via Haig Street.

Personal training is also available. For more information phone Raymond on 07841 840557 or visit the SMTC Greenock Facebook page.